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In Basketball the Full Court Press is an instance of aggressive pressure. The press is a defensive tactic in which members of a team cover their opponents throughout the court and not just near their own basket.
There needs to be an energy inside of us that will deny entry of the enemy in our lives. We need a tenacity to run down our dreams, passions, and calling. We have bad habits that require aggressive pressure in order to change. We need a full court press.
David knew how to press against the enemy. David pressed on the battlefield. The Bible says He ran toward the battle line to face Goliath. But David also pressed BEFORE the battlefield when no one was watching.
There are times for strategy. There are times for wise counsel and advice. But there are times when it is simply time to press. The time to press is now!
Champion 4 – Full Court Press – Redemption Church Plano Tx from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
Champion 4 – Full Court Press
Champion Bumper 4
God bless you and thank you for being with us today at Redemption Church in Plano Tx. Thank you to everyone tuning in online. My name is Chris Fluitt & I want you to feel inspired today. I want you to feel like you can win today. I want you to be a Champion.
Champion
We are the 4th week of our Champion Series. We have been looking at the epic story of David & Goliath.
- Week 1- Promise trumps Pedigree.
- Week 2- Servants are Champions.
- Week 3 – You need to see More than a Problem.
Today I want to preach to you about The Full Court Press
It is one of my favorite times of the year. It is March and that means there is a lot of basketball to watch. If you don’t know, I am a sports junky. Before I answered the call into ministry it was my plan to be a sports journalist. Although my life has gone a different direction, I am still crazy about sports, especially basketball.
In all sports… baseball, football, soccer, hockey, table tennis… there is an understanding that in order to win you must put pressure on your opponent.
In football you have the “Blitz,” where more defenders run at the Quarterback than the offense has blockers to stop them.
Baseball pressure features inside pitches and base runners trying to steal the next base.
And in basketball there is something called the full court press.
The Full Court Press is an instance of aggressive pressure. The press is a defensive tactic in which members of a team cover their opponents throughout the court and not just near their own basket.
Before the ball is even passed in from out of bounds, defenders are already scrambling. You have a defender with arms up standing just inches from the offensive player attempting to pass the ball in. You have every other defensive player using a lot of energy to deny the pass to their assigned player.
And should the offensive team successfully pass the ball into the hands of one of their teammates, the press shifts towards the ball. 2 Players scramble to stop the advance of the ball. They position themselves to trap the ball handler, to stop their dribble, and cause a turnover.
I have come to preach to someone today about the Full Court Press. There needs to be an energy inside of you that will say enough is enough. I am not going to give up one inch to the enemy. I am going to get right in the enemies face. I am going to stand my ground. Wherever the enemy is, I will be right there denying his presence and advance.
I am not going to go another day with pursuing my purpose and dream for my life. I am going to press myself to be better today than I was yesterday. I will press bad habits out of my life.
David knew how to press.
1 Samuel 17:48 (NIV2011) As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.
1 Samuel 17:49 (NIV2011) Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
1 Samuel 17:51 (NIV2011) David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
David pressed on the battlefield
What did the word say? It said that Goliath moved closer. Can you picture a big slow lumbering giant? But how did it describe David? It says “David ran quickly toward the battle.”
As David was running to meet Goliath he reached into his bag for a stone. He slung that stone and hit the giant in the forehead. The giant falls down.
Then what did David do? It says “David ran and stood over him” to finish the job.
Does it sound like David pressed? Does it sound like David had energy, passion, and faith? David was not reluctant to apply aggressive pressure?
There are times for strategy.
There are times for wise counsel and advice.
But there are times when it is simply time to press.
I have a question for those who are not experiencing the life they want right now. Are you pressing?
Are you running at your dreams? Are you attacking the obstacles? Are you putting pressure on your doubt and fear? Are you pressing against your debt? Are you pressing against your bad health? Are you pressing when it comes to sharing Jesus with those who so desperately need Him?
David Pressed on the battle field when it mattered most.
You know “when it mattered most is a tricky phrase.” We think about the last 2 minutes of the game and say the Quarterback passes are more important at that time. The last shot of a close basketball game, we say those moments matter most, in the sports world. And in our lives the moments of decision when the pressure in on, we say these are the moments that matter most.
But here is the truth. Every moment matters. There are not unimportant moments. I will go a step further and tell you that all your moments are equally important. The time an athlete spends in preparation is as important as the game time. The dedication you students put into reading and studying is as important as the test time.
David pressed on the battlefield… but also David pressed before the battlefield
David pressed before the battlefield
David defeated Goliath with a sling and a stone. You would be incorrect to think that the sling was a children’s toy. The sling was a military weapon.
The stone comes out of the sling about 60 miles an hour at distances of 100s of yards.
In Judges 20:16 it describes Israel’s army. It says there “were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.”
These were military men using the sling in battle. They were accurate enough to hit a strand of hair from a distance. They had archer like accuracy with this dangerous weapon.
To develop the technique of the sling took time. Honing the accuracy and power took patience. Someone practiced with great effort and time before the battle. To master anything takes someone pressing. And not just pressing when someone was looking, but hours and days and weeks of pressing when no one is watching.
David spent much time out on the backside of pasture watching sheep. Some people would have said this was a lowly unimportant task. Some would say these moments surely were not as important as the moment David stood before a giant. BUT it was in these moments that David pressed before the battlefield. This was the moment where David learned the skill to take down a Giant. David needed to practice his skills BEFORE he stood in front of Goliath.
Nowhere in scripture does it say that an Angel guided the stone from David’s sling. It never says that God supernaturally guided the stone to hit Goliath. The prophet never spoke that it was predestined for David to defeat a giant with a stone.
I have heard it said that God supernaturally guided that stone and that it would have been impossible for David to miss the Giant, but that simply is not stated in scripture. The problem with this viewpoint is that it makes David’s effort meaningless and unimportant. But here is what I know about God…
God honors effort
- Jesus said there are some things in God that ONLY come with the effort of prayer and fasting.
- The word says if you will take the effort to draw close to God, He will draw close to you.
God blesses effort!
- God makes the promise that if you will honor your father and mother, He will bless you.
- When you give it will be given back to you in a greater degree.
- If you sow you will reap.
Your theology is faulty if you think God does not value your pressing effort.
Your prayer matters! Your worship matters! Your effort matters!
Do you want the supernatural in your life?
God is Supernatural. That means God is beyond the natural. This is awesome. God we want your supernatural power!
But just because God is SUPER-natural, does not mean that He does not value your natural.
I have found I cannot experience God’s super natural without expending my natural effort. I can’t get BEYOND THE NATURAL until I get beyond my natural.
The woman with the issue of blood reached out in the natural to experience the supernatural.
The natural lunch of fish and bread was offered and God multiplied it supernaturally.
The natural speaking of the Gospel brings about supernatural faith. Faith comes by hearing!
A natural man named Jesus took on physical nails on a physical cross. He gave all he had in the natural to give you something so far beyond the natural that it will raise you from the dead, it will forgive you of your sins, it will fill you with the Holy Spirit.
You want to know why you need to clap your hands and lift your hands in worship? It takes you past the natural.
You need to physically come to an altar today and step into the super natural.
You need to go down into the physical waters of baptism so that you can rise into a new supernatural life.
You need to learn to reach into your wallet and pull out a physical dollar bill and surrender it to God’s supernatural promise.
David ran towards Goliath. He pressed.
People who don’t press look like they have made the mistake of thinking they have already won
Don’t act like you aren’t in the fight of your life. Don’t just stand around with a giant walking toward you. PRESS!
What if David didn’t press? What if he didn’t run to that Giant and let loose that stone? What if David didn’t run up to Goliath to finish the job? What if he would have allowed the giant to get back up?
You are in a fight! Fighting for your life, your soul, your family, your future, your marriage, your calling, your purpose, your health, your mind, your job, your finances… YOU ARE IN A FIGHT! ACT LIKE IT! PRESS!
Do not stand around like you are not in a fight! Don’t worship like you are not in a fight! Don’t pray like you are not in a fight!
Philippians 3:13 (NIV2011) Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Philippians 3:14 (NIV2011) I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
You need to press today.
Musician
You need to press against spiritual enemies. The Devil has been trying to kill, steal, and destroy. What are you going to do today?
You need to press against your own flesh. Your flesh wants to sin. What if you pressed against it and said No! Flesh you will not sin against God, I will make my flesh worship and honor God.
You need to press against your habits. You need to press against your lifestyle. You need to say enough is enough I am not living this way anymore.
Who is going to press with me in this altar today?
Are you going to just stroll to this altar and stand around like you aren’t in some kind of battle, or you going to come press?
How to beat the Enemies Press
As I was talking about pressing against the enemy some of you probably felt like I had it reversed. Because you feel like it is the enemy that is pressing against you?
There is a basketball strategy for beating the full court press. The defense will send two defenders at you to pressure you, but that simply means you have a teammate open. So before the pressure can blanket you, you pass to the open man. The defense will then shift to the new ball-handler, but before they can succeed you pass to the open man.
Now it is the defense that is under pressure. The opponent is now off balance and constantly shifting, and just a few passes you are standing wide open under your goal. Score!
The power of the full court press is that it pressures someone to make a decision. It forces the ball-handler to pass before they are ready to pass. When they pass before they are ready they usually turn it over.
To beat the full court press, the coaches preaches a pre-conceived decision to his players.
Decision
You know the pressure is coming, so before it ever arrives that point guard has made the decision to pass the ball and to whom he will pass the ball. And the rest of the team knows about the decision and they have pre-conceived where they will position themselves to know where to pass to the open man.
You know that the pressure is coming Christian! Do you remember that you made a decision in this altar to trust God with everything? Do you remember that you are to PASS your cares on God because He cares for you?
Before the pressure reaches you, your savior is open. Do not hold on to the ball.
You also have teammates in the body of Christ! They are positioned to help you. Will you trust them enough to pass?
The last thing I will say is this… Church, do not be out of position. Someone is needing to pass to you. They need you to be in position. Somebody needed you to be at church today. Somebody will need you to be at Connect Group this week. Somebody will need you to answer that phone call.
Don’t be caught out of position.